The present disclosure relates to image processing methods and systems.
Many small electronic devices are now equipped with cameras. Mobile phones, personal digital assistants, tablet devices, and other communication devices are commonly used to capture images, as well as to quickly send the image via electronic mail, text message, or another delivery method to a remote location. At times, such devices may be used to photograph a document. The device user may either send the document to a third party as an image file for review, or the user may save the image file for later viewing.
Although the proliferation of such devices increases users' ability to capture document images, the image quality that can result from a multifunctional electronic device often is not as high as the image quality of a dedicated camera. In addition, the images are typically not captured under conditions that are ideal for photographing fine details. Thus, text can be blurry, not entirely captured, obscured, or otherwise unclear so that it is difficult for a person to read text that is captured in the image. Light variability, shadowing, and other variables can create an environment that may even challenge a dedicated camera to capture a clear image of text in a document.
The disclosure presented below describes attempts to solve at least some of the problems described above.